I'm going to assume you are asking whether or not the instructions written in this recipe are correct and the answer is yes.

If the real question is how do you reconcile your mum's instructions vs the instructions here on this site, then there's no real answer. Perhaps your oven runs hot and gas mark 2 (normally around 325F or 165C) is actually higher than normal so anything above that burns food that is kept in there too long. There are oven thermometers that are able to handle the high heat of an oven and can give you an idea of whether or not your oven runs hot. They cost about $3-4 here in the US and I can only assume they would be a similar price if available in your country. If your oven does operate in the expected temperature ranges, then simply bake at Gas Mark 9 for ten minutes, and then lower to Gas Mark 3 for the rest of the baking process.

So I made the cheesecake it wasn't bad since I had to compromise on the temperature it could be the reason I had faults but its wasn't that bad the cheesecake collapsed in towards the middle and one side didn't look right.

So the cake looks & smells fantastic but I've made a million & one cheesecakes so I had to make it differently to make it my own. First of all use a nut such as pecans for the crust, or choclate cookies like oreos crushed if making it a peanut butter cream cheese cake, always better. Also be playful with your recipes & substitute the whip cream with twice as much white chocolate mousse & layer in your favorite fruits then top with more fruit after it has chilled or on individual slices if you're like me & want to experience e something different with each serving.
Great original recipe to start with & very easy to alter or experiment with to make something truly special. Thanks!

For all of those concerned with their cakes cracking...
They crack because they have cooled too quickly or stuck to sides of your pan.
To prevent:
Tip 1 - Turn the oven off 5 minutes prior till done & let your cake cool in there for a couple hours before refrigerating.
Tip 2 - Line you pan with lightly greased wax paper to prevent it from sticking to pan. This will also make cleanup easier and should you need to move the cake to a new serving tray the wax paper will slide right off the pan without fear of losing any portion it or causing it to fall.

My dad loved this recipe, his name was also Michael and he was a pilot for Scandinavian Airlines. He planned to open a B&B and wanted to sell authentic American cheesecakes to his guests. To know how much it would cost to sell them and to know how he would bake a cheesecake so it would be perfect, he started baking cheesecakes from your recipe (when he was a pilot and divorced, he had a lot of free time, it should be added).

Dad bought special baking molds from the U.S. (because he was a pilot, he went there often) and he baked many chesecakes ... so many that he began to give them away to the nearest pub (where they were given away as a dessert for their VIP guests) so he did not have to throw them away. These cheesecakes became really popular in our family and among our friends. People who said they did not like cheesecakes, loved them. He was sadly concluded that it would be too expensive to sell cheesecakes for his potential B&B so he ended up baking them. Around the same time he received a terrible news, he had cancer, and my father passed away in June 2011.

One time he showed me the website that he found the recipe. "Chesecakes for engineers," he said proudly, and he showed me the recipe and told me how much he struggled to make it as perfect as possible. I googled my way to this page and found the recipe and now, I am going to give it a try and bake a perfect cheesecake. I just wanted to tell you one of my memories that I have left, of my fun (and restless) dad, and tell you how your recipe has become a fond memory for my family.

Oh wow... That left me with tears in my eyes. I hope you have many years of successful cheesecakes and pass on the recipe to as many people as you know. I'd imagine your father would love that you are sharing his cheesecake with others!

Hello. I've known of this site for years, and had not been back for quite some time. I've used the CI recipe for years before discovering this site, but took the tips in this thread to keep me on the right track as well.

My dad also had cancer, and passed away just now.

I hadn't made NY cheesecake in awhile, but just made one. After which it delved me back into deep research about NY cheesecake, and it brought me back to this site, reading the whole thread again and seeing how it has slowly grown.

What do you think about in stead of putting the cheesecake in the oven, we cook the custard on the stove until it reaches 150 degrees and then pour it on the pre baked crust and leave it in the fridge to set?

This past year I've been attempting NY style cheesecakes and have looked all over the vast internets to find a really good recipe... I have attempted many in this time, and one of them was the recipe from this site. People, if you read any comments hopefully mine is the one you read, b/c this cake is AMAZING!!!! I lost the site and have been trying to find it to bookmark it again! I'm soooooo happy I remembered most the instructions being so different than most other recipes! So simple and laid out to make the perfect cheesecake!!! THANK YOU GUYS!!!! AWESOMELY AMAZING!!!

Just wanted to say I found this recipe a couple of years ago and have used it multiple times. The cheesecakes always turn out great! My sister-in-law, who doesn't care for cheesecake, asks for one of these for her birthday. :-) I must eat gluten-free, so I make (or you could buy) GF cookies for the crust and leave out the optional flour in the custard. I bake as directed, then move it to a table and cover with a large stainless steel bowl for several hours. This seems to help prevent cracking as well. Anyway, thanks for a great recipe!

I am looking to make smaller cheesecakes to give as gifts at Christmas and such. i have been baking Lindy's cheesecakes for years and through trial and error come up witha pretty good product. I mingled in raspberry tart (12 oz of fresh raspberries boilded down with cornstarch and suger to a thick gellatin/puree (strained of seeds)) and melted white chocolate (mixed in after last egg).

I grabbed the idea from two separate recipes and now have an awesome White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl.

Mike, your site is amazing. I love making cheesecake, but encounter the same issues as everyone else. I recently watched a video on TV of a professional chef preparing a cheesecake. He was very much against using any kind of mixer or whisk. Instead, he used his hands (wearing food grade plastic gloves) to mix all ingredients which had been brought down to room temperature. His opinion was that this method did not allow any excess air or bubbles into the mixture which ultimately would prevent cracking. I have not tried it yet, but I'm interested in your reaction to the hand mixing method.